Mars Sextile Jupiter - jump on THIS

jump by poop-art

We have Jupiter

(the planet of expansion, vitality, confidence and faith - all the stuff that brings us good luck if we were to believe in such things - and I do, actually)

cozying up to the North Node of our collective fate/future/destiny this month.

This is happening in the un-cozyest (and yes, since this isn't really a word I can spell it like this) of signs - detail oriented Virgo - where Jupiter isn't super um ... well, cozy. But that's ok. Sometimes cozy is over-rated. Sometimes attention to the details is what makes life cozy actually. And yes, when I say sometimes I mean now.

This transit is helping us line up with our best possible future.

It's like we are at the train station and there's a train leaving for Newark and a train leaving for Hawaii and every thought we think, every decision we make, every action we take, is moving us, step by step, into one of these station lines ... and right now, this moment, we are still in the space where we can go either way. We haven't bought the ticket yet.

There will come a time when, ticket in hand, we will just have to get on our train (dance with the one who brung us so to speak - and yes, same rule applies to "brung" as "uncoziest") and venture forward to Hawaii .... or Newark.

(and I live in New Jersey and it's snowing and you know which line I want to be in)

Of course, things aren't really this dire, because there are unlimited trains for every destination between these two places and there will be opportunities later to hop trains, although that can be dicey, we don't want to lose a leg or anything. You can see what I mean with this. We want to be moving toward the right line now.

As I write this, the planet Mars (drive, initiative, action, will, courage) is building toward a sextile (supportive opportunity) with Jupiter. This aspect is exact on Sunday but will be active all this week and next.

The actions we take during this Mars sextile Jupiter transit can have a bigger impact on our life than the actions we take at other times. Being that Jupiter is well, Jupiter after all, and most especially because he is hanging out with the North Node. Doors that open now won't lead us into a broom closet. Doors that open now will lead us to opportunities for learning and growth and, dare I say - happiness. 

We need to jump on this. We will probably need to pull that door open ourselves. If we are sitting around watching Walking Dead marathons (yes, I know we have to get caught up for the new season) we could miss this. With masculine Mars energy we have to take the initiative. We have to be a warrior. Mars isn't Venus where we attract what we want. Mars has to go and get it.

Now remember this is coming through our Virgo house (check your natal chart) and if you are a Virgo rising (ascendant) we are talking about your whole life and if you are a Virgo Sun we are talking about what fuels your whole life, so the same thing basically.

This isn't "out of the blue" stuff. Mars isn't Uranus. This is us taking action on our dreams and that action (think like a Virgo here - what needs to be done? and how can we do it well?) getting us lined up where we need to be to get what we want. Mars is the energy that gets us what we want. Virgo is the way/space we make this happen. Jupiter is the faith in ourselves and our dreams that lines us up with our "good luck".

Those with natal (and progressed) planets and points between 18 and 24 degrees of earth signs (Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo) or water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) will be most directly affected but the energy is available to all of us to make an impact on our future now.

The Moon is waxing (growing). Mars is in Scorpio so we know what we want. Mercury is out of his shadow on Sunday, too. And Mercury and Venus are moving into forward thinking and forward moving Aquarius.

How do we want our future to look? What steps can we take, right now, to make that future happen?!

xo all

Note - the fly in the ointment and you know there is always a fly in there no matter how carefully and quickly we close the damn door - is that although sextiles are supportive they can sometimes seem to bring unwelcome situations - it's really stuff we are already lined up with so closely there is no getting out of the way. When this is the case though whatever happens is something we will be able to move through quicker and easier than we anticipated.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Monday, February 8th | a new view of what drives us ... and makes us angry

"so I stopped talking about it. there's no need to talk because the truth of what one says lies in what one does." ... bernard schlink - the reader

alone by zhoya

I didn't get the chance to do a weekly post yesterday, so we'll try a few dailys and see how that goes.

We begin this week with a New Moon in Aquarius. This is the time of the month when the Sun and Moon are joined together at the same degree of the same sign. As always New Moons are excellent times to plant seeds with our intentions - these seeds will ripen by the Aquarius Full Moon in August.

See my post about the New Moon.

The focus here will be on our flock, the causes we care about and how free we are to do the things we want to do... also your natal Aquarius house (19 degrees).

New Moons and particularly the two weeks that follow them are initiatory energy.

Stuff starts.

Of course, for stuff to start, other stuff has to end.

The energy here is supporting the fresh start, so a focus on that part (which can be challenging depending on just what is ending and how invested we are in keeping it intact) moves us forward.

What house holds 19 degrees Aquarius in your natal and progressed charts?

In the angular houses, New Moons work more obviously. They call us to action - these are houses 1,4,7 and 10.

Houses 2,5,8 and 11 are our succedent houses (they succeed, ie follow, the angular houses). They stabilize. A New Moon here will require us to work a little harder and look a little closer to identify the New Moon's opportunity. It's there.

Cadent houses are houses 3,6,9 and 12. A New Moon here requires an adjustment. We are often required to learn something. Preceding the angular houses - this is the thought before we take action.

This New Moon has a wonderful sextile (opportunity) to Uranus (in Aries). This is the 'new thing' that will require some action on our part. It looks good.

Mars is a power player at this New Moon.

The Moon is square Mars, so is the Sun. Squares present tension and frustration. Mars is in powerful Scorpio where he is co-ruler. Mars indicates anger, motivation or drive being activated. With the Sun and Moon in egalitarian Aquarius, tension could come if someone (or we) tries to rule instead of cooperate.

The things we get angry at now will have a higher message for us.

When we get pissed off - and we will - we'll think "ooh, the Sun is showing me my unhealed Mars".

(animals, nature and water are great healers for Mars tension and anger, also EFT - see Cheryl Richardson's video here and most healing of all, by rebuilding what we have destroyed)

With Aquarius we are asked to take a higher view even as Mars in Scorpio plunges us down deep.  This is great energy to break through something that is resistant. Let's keep a cool head and stay steady over the next few days. Mars in Scorpio understands that power comes through us and not from us.

Tomorrow Mars trines (brakes off) Chiron (healing, wounding). Mars rules early, early childhood. Some fear or pain from then can/will be healed now .....

Set your New Moon intentions - YAY! FRESH START! - you know the drill!

AFFIRMATION TIPS: get into a happy frame of mind - always make affirmations from a  positive place (positive meaning both happy and certain) - write your affirmations down by hand in script,  speak them out loud - I always write my affirmations on strips of paper. This month maybe we'll burn them and release the ashes into the cool Aquarian air. Then release your attention from them knowing that your intention is known.  

Know these things are already yours. xo all

Ooh also, the Chinese Year of the Red (fire) Monkey kicks off today. I don't know much about Chinese astrology, but a fire monkey year sounds like a fast moving year with lots of chatter - which sounds about right. Back tomorrow.

New Moon in Aquarius on Monday | the answers will be found outside the box

out of our minds by jayelless

Monday's New Moon will be at 19 degrees Aquarius.

(FYI Aquarius rules friendship - they'll come in handy now -  Facebook is calling today Friendship Day - although I remember doing a giveaway for that once in the summer. I guess I was either way ahead of everyone else or way behind. I do like the idea of it during Aquarius season though so I'll go with Facebook on this one)

The lunar cycle (Capricorn) that is ending Sunday began with a conjunction to Pluto and included a retrograde Mercury's conjunction to Pluto and then direct station there. Pluto is the planet of death, destruction and obsession. This is pretty good energy to break our world into the sort of tiny little pieces that faced the king's men and their horses after the fall of Humpty Dumpty.

(I always wondered how the horses factored into this tale)

We were all tossed into whatever personal narrative this lengthy Pluto in Capricorn transit is stirring up in our lives. Many people are dealing with financial and job security concerns pretty intensely.

Remember we are all working through the Pluto in Capricorn transit - the collapse of corrupt and unsustainable structures. This transit isn't just something we are all dealing with collectively - this is energy we are all dealing with in our personal lives, too.

The collective story affects us individually just as the way we handle our personal stories affects the outcome of the collective story! We really are that powerful.

Yes, what you do affects me and what I do affects you.

(and you should probably thank me for all this God awful gut healing bone broth I've been drinking - ack!)

By the end of this week we'll all have received any Plutonian marching orders and reality checks loud and clear. 

Capricorn seasons are never easy but have been particularly harsh the last few years since Pluto moved in (we are at pretty much the midpoint of a 15-16 year cycle). We will all have to work with this energy at times.

Monday's New Moon squaring Mars in Scorpio (and Mars will be retrograde in Scorpio for many months this year) tells us that although we are entering a new lunar cycle we can't simply side step everything that has happened or throw pink paint over our problems and pretend they don't exist.

Carrying the energy of whatever reality these last few weeks have unearthed / bombed us with - even when it's uncomfortable and maybe especially when it's uncomfortable - helps ensure that our future plans and actions are more grounded and have less chance of falling apart later.

(remember this year's primary energy is the Saturn Neptune square that is testing our dreams - there will be obstacles!)

Aquarius/Scorpio is pretty much exactly the energy needed to push us out of a rut. This is 'outsider' energy where doing things differently might be just the ticket as long as we are prepared for things to veer off in whatever direction this energy takes. We could take things too far with this and get hurt or hurt someone else, so let's not do that, ok?

(remember for most of this year Jupiter is in Virgo - precise, measured steps get us where we need to go - also everyone needs to be prioritizing their health and physical bodies now - inflammation issues will require very clean diets this year - good health coaches will clean up)

This New Moon cycle takes us into eclipse season where anything can happen! I'll post more about this in the weekly on Monday, but for those dealing with this month's muck know that lighter energies are ahead of us.

The dense energies will start to lift as more planets move into Aquarius and she brings her kind of unique electricity and leaps in thinking into the mix.

The answers will be found outside the box.

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of February 1st - lots of push to get things done

a little push by stephanie dan

Busy, fast moving week. Lots of "push" to get things done and by "done", I mean finished. The Moon is waning - whatever needs to go out the door, needs to go out the door.

We start the week with a Scorpio Moon and in the aftermath of the clashes Mercury dealt (is that a word?) with this past weekend maybe some important information came through. Maybe more information just muddies our thinking. Maybe we get a breakthrough. Either way it's a good day to go within and think about our personal evolution since Mercury entered his shadow in mid December.

On Tuesday the Moon moves into lighter and more visionary Sagittarius until Thursday. Lots of busy productive energy. Time will fly, so stay focused on one thing at a time and see it through or nothing will get done. The Moon is void all day Thursday so not a good time to start anything we don't want to fizzle out. The good news - any crisis that crop up then will be a waste of time and worry and not come to anything.

Tuesday is also Brigid's Day (more commonly in the U.S. called Groundhog Day) - the midpoint between winter and spring - although the exact midpoint is 15 degrees Aquarius, and since this is my natal Sun degree - I will celebrate on the 4th when the Sun hits 15 degrees Aquarius - more on this later. Light a yellow candle. Let's be thankful for our progress since the Winter Solstice.

Mid week, we have Mars (still in Scorpio, get used to that) sextiling Pluto (ruler of Mars and currently housed in Capricorn). Also Mercury is sextiling Chiron in Pisces. This could be a good time to give a voice to what hurts and to take effective action. The Sun (in freedom loving Aquarius) also sextiles stodgy Saturn (in big picture freedom loving Sagittarius) so movements toward FREEDOM are getting the universal GREEN LIGHT. This won't remove all obstacles and sextiles require some kind of action on our part - it's like a door cracks open - it's our choice what, if anything, we do with it - it's still some good, positive energy.

At the end of the week Venus conjuncts Pluto (in Capricorn) and then squares Uranus (in Aries). Let's do something we are passionate about. Venus themes - our values, art, money, women - get intense. We will know what we want and what we want might upset some apple carts. Women won't be taking any crap. Maybe something in the collective around women will surface the way the issue about the lack of African American nominees at the Oscars hit a couple weeks ago.

Back in a day or two. For the big picture remember we are working through BIG collective energies that are shifting everything - if our ground doesn't feel shaky, we are probably not standing up.

NOTE - remember I write about aspects when they are exact - they are often (other than the Moons) very near exact for days before and after and you might feel them and be working through them then. xo all